Preparation and Evaluation of lubricating properties of Neem seed oil under the influence of an Anti-wear additive as Sustainable alternative to commercial Engine oil

The search for environmentally friendly and sustainable lubricants for automotive and industrial applications has led to extensive research on bio lubricants as a viable alternative to conventional engine oils and mineral oils. The biodegradable and ecofriendly nature of vegetable oil, makes it an excellent replacement for the depleting mineral oils. Still, a good number of modifications must be brought in, to overcome the drawbacks of vegetable oils. In this work, the preparation and evaluation of lubricating properties like tribological, rheological, thermal etc. of neem seed oil with and without additives were carried out and effectively compared with the lubricating properties of synthetic oil, Poly alpha olefin 6 (PAO6) and with a commercial engine oil, SAE20W40. The copper oxide nano particles were dispersed in neem seed oil as additive in various proportions (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 wt.%) to enhance the tribological properties. The tribological analysis were carried out to evaluate the friction and wear performance of neem seed oil using the four-ball tester. The neem seed oil with 0.2wt% CuO has attained an improvement of 13.8% in its friction coefficient and a reduction in wear scar diameter of base oil by 20% and seemed to be better than synthetic oil and comparable to SAE20W40. The viscosity was evaluated using redwood viscometer and seemed better than synthetic oil. The properties like flash point, fire point and pour point were also investigated in this study. These results showed that the addition of copper oxide nanoparticles significantly improved the lubricating properties of neem seed oil and the formulated lubricant is comparable to the properties of SAE20W40 and can be considered as an alternative in automotive applications with proper modifications.